Gronovius informs Linnaeus that the bookseller Theodoor Haak has bought the remaining two hundred copies of the Systema naturae at a fair price. Furthermore, he reminds him of the proposal to have a second, enlarged and improved edition of the work published in such a manner that it would not cause damage to the first edition. As Gronovius still possesses around one thousand copies of the second table of the vegetable kingdom as well as of all the tables pertaining to the animal kingdom, he proposes the following procedure. As far as the pages that have not yet been printed are concerned, Linnaeus can make whatever changes he deems necessary. The pages that have already been printed, however, should remain unchanged. If Linnaeus wants to make some additions, he should draw up a list of addenda that are to printed on a separate page.

Gronovius wants to know whether Linnaeus is working on his itinerary and his Philosophia botanica. He would like the author to send a sheet at least once a week. He assures that the printers will bear the costs for posting, while he himself will be all too happy to see to it that the works are properly printed and that Linnaeus receives as many copies as he wishes. Lawson has informed Gronovius that he attended the meeting of the Royal Society at London when a copy of the Hortus Cliffortianus was presented. Although the book was highly valued by all members of the Society, Gronovius regrets nonetheless that some errors have slipped into the volume which ought to be corrected. Consequently, he adds a list of corrigenda.

Next, Gronovius communicates the latest news in the world of natural history. Thomas Shaw’s itinerary has recently appeared, while his phytography can be separately purchased in London. Herman Boerhaave’s books will be sold by auction in the course of May or June, together with the collections of minerals and insects which Linnaeus has been able to admire in the gallery of his garden. The curators of Leiden university have asked Adriaan van Royen to give courses on Boerhaave’s medical practice and Hieronymus David Gaubius to lecture on his medical theory. Many curious plants have been blooming in Gronovius’s garden this summer. He is about to receive some more plants from Virginia. The Flora Virginica is proceeding well; before long, Gronovius will send Linnaeus some printed sheets. He humbly asks his friend to provide him with the specific names of various plants. Gronovius informs Linnaeus that Chinese Ninzi has been discovered in Pensylvania which corresponds in all respects to the specimens which Sir Hans Sloane received from China. The proposal to establish a botanical garden in Selingiskoy (Astracan) has failed. Don Bruno Tozzi has announced the publication of a history of fungi. The Florentine naturalist Giovanni Targioni is preparing the posthumous edition of the second volume of Pier Antonio Micheli’s writings. Jean François Séguier has compiled a botany of Verona; his Bibliotheca botanica is in the press at the Hague. Gronovius has read Johannes Siebesbeck’s assessment of Linnaeus’s writings and deems it worthless. Herman van Swieten is preparing the edition of Boerhaave’s lectures on medical practice, whereas Albrecht von Haller is considering the edition of his lectures on medical theory.

Postscript. Gronovius decided not to send Linnaeus the letter he had composed immediately for two reasons. First of all, he received a letter from Peter Collinson including two treatises written by James Logan. Gronovius is asked to have them published and to send a copy of them to Linnaeus. The second reason is that Gronovius finally received the Virginian plants which he had been expecting for such a long time and wanted to send Linnaeus specimens of them as he thought they might please him. He asks his friend to provide him with their specific names and give a description of their features. In keeping with his promise, Gronovius sends Linnaeus the printed sheets of his Flora Virginica.

The previous pages were written a week ago. In the meantime, however, Van Royen delivered Gronovius a new letter from Linnaeus which is dated on 5 February. Accordingly, Gronovius proceeds with answering this letter.

First of all, he informs Linnaeus that Johannes Andreas Cramer is giving two courses daily and that the first part of his Elementa artis docimasticae has not yet been printed. Gronovius is eagerly looking forward to receiving the minerals which Linnaeus has collected for him. Gronovius, for his part, is happy to offer him the catalogue of Boerhaave’s books and specimens of Virginian plants. He is glad to hear that Linnaeus’s medical practice is increasingly successful and that he is able to give lectures on mineralogy and botany. He proposes to publish Linnaeus’s Philosophia botanica and his reply to Siegesbeck as soon as the author has finished them. He would be very pleased with the catalogue of Swedish animals. No news about Haller’s Synopsis plantarum. He has not yet seen Christian Gottlieb Ludwig’s Aphorismi botanici. However, he will try to purchase a copy for Linnaeus in Amsterdam. Gronovius does not dare to intervene in favour of Dillenius [?]. A legal dispute has arisen between Bartsch’s heirs. As a result, they do not pay Johann Natanael Lieberkühn what is due to him. Gronovius expects to receive Bartsch’s Surinam belongings next month. No news from Catesby and John Martyn. Sloane and Cromwell Mortimer do not allow Philip Miller to publish his Genera Houstoniana in the Philosophical Transactions. Mortimer sets out to edit the Itinera Orientalia of Engelbert Kämpfer. Gronovius gives Linnaeus instructions as to Lawson’s corresponding address in London.

Gronovius informs Linnaeus that he has sent him a wooden box containing sheets filled with curious plants which have bloomed in his garden the previous summer. He kindly asks him to give the specific names of the plants sent. Apart from these sheets, Linnaeus will find a fascicle with rare Virginian plants. Again, Linnaeus is kindly asked to give their specific names and provide Gronovius with his botanical observations. Finally, Gronovius tells his friend that Clayton has finished his examination of Virginian plants and is now shifting his attention to the animal kingdom of Virginia.

Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti was a friend of Pietro Antonio Micheli whom he succeeded as director of the Botanical Garden and in the chair of botany at Florence in 1737. The edition of the second part of Micheli’s botanical work which he prepared would not be published until 1826 by his son Ottaviano Targioni-Tozzetti. It was entitled Catalogus . See Pritzel, Thesaurus , nos. 6915 and 10054.

As late as 1745, Jean François Séguier published two separate works on the botany of Verona, a Catalogus plantarum (1745) and two volumes of Plantae Veronenses (1745). Gronovius informs us that Séguier adopted the system followed by John Ray in his Synopsis methodica stirpium Britannicarum (1690) but modified it according to Tournefort’s method.

Initially, Linnaeus faced serious problems in attracting a sufficient number of patients in order to make a living as a physician in Stockholm. Gradually, however, his luck changed. See Fries, Linné: Lefnadsteckning , 251-254 and Blunt, The compleat naturalist , 130-131.

As early as 1735, Gronovius was looking forward to the edition of Engelbert Kämpfer’s travel accounts. See his letter to Linnaeus of 19 October 1735 n.s.Letter L0047. Cromwell Mortimer must have failed to realise his plan to have them published. Kämpfer’s travel accounts were first published by Karl Meier-Lemgo in 1968. See Meier-Lemgo, Die Reisetagebücher .